Going to europe, i need you help!?

so me and my best friend are going to europe after grad, we plan on spending 3 months, feb-april aprox. we want to get an apartment for the 3 months and then get eurorail passes and go where we choose after that but come back to our "home" after going on small adventures around europe, so here where you advise comes in,

where should we get the apartment?

we speak english, so would the uk be better, and if so,does that change the eurorail pass?

are there any english speaking cities/towns around europe that would be good for a small apartment?

wheres the cheapest areas that are still relatively safe?(our parents offered to pay rent, and we've been saving up spending money for 3 years now,so moneys not a big issue. we just don't want to put our parents out to much)

how do we NOT look like tourists?

what sorts of things should we do/ not do to not stand out?

any other tips?

thanks soo muchGoing to europe, i need you help!?
You get the Eurail pass in your own country, not in the UK. You would need to check if you can use there, I believe you can.



Getting an apartment would be a HUGE waste of money. You would be far better simply moving around from place to place and staying in hostels, but if you've saved a lot of money, you could stay at budget hotels - more secure, often cleaner and quieter. Going back and forth over 3 months is exhausting - don't you realise just how great distances are in Europe?



No matter where you go, you're going to look like tourists. Just resign yourselves to that right now. As soon as you open your mouths you'll be giving yourselves away. Nothing you can do about it but accept it.



It would be far more useful at this point to start figuring out when you're going, so you can plot where - southern Europe gets very very hot in the summer, and in August many businesses in Italy and France close for their annual holidays. Scandinavia has long days in the summer, but very long nights at wintertime. Ireland and Britain have damp weather, and the weather in Ireland in particular is notoriously unpredictable.



All places have local festivals on, so it would be wise to find out when these are on well in advance, so you can decide if you want to go to them - some are so popular that you would need to book your accommodation quite far in advance, the Palio in Siena is one such festival.



So my advice, stop worrying about things you can't change, and start focusing on what it is you actually want to do, and making decisions about this. Borrow travel books from the library as well as using the Internet.



And another thing: learn a few phrases in the local language: please, thank you, do you speak English, the food is delicious, are all useful and get you that little bit further.



Duncan: We speak English in Ireland, and Ireland isn't part of the UK.Going to europe, i need you help!?
Hai, okay. I can only really answer for the UK, since I live there, but in my own travllings about Europe (Italy, France etc) I know a little.



Gettin apartments in big cities like Rome, Paris, London etc is -very- expensive, so you might want to consider staying in a smaller city or town.



I don't know for sure, but the UK is part of the Euro Union, so your Eurorail should work fine!



English is only spoken everywhere in the UK, howevever, most people in Europe speak it as a second langauge, especially in big cities like Berlin or Madrid or wherever, where you get lots of tourists. As I said, apartments you're better off finding a smaller city or town.



I dunno about most cities. I'd recommend staying away Napels and Glasgow for saftey, Liverpool too. Naples is a lovely city but lots of gangster-related violence. Northern England/ Highlands of Scotland are as cheap as anywhere and pretty safe because they're rural. However, it's wet and cold so maybe not the first choice!



If you don't wanna look like tourists, make sure to not speak loudly and leave your cameras in your bags. If your in a city with street vendors, avoid them, they are a tourist trap.



Learning languages other than English helps. French is prob your best option, as it's spoken widley in Northern Italy, the Low Countries and Far West Germany.